Afghanistan A cricket team to arrive on 19th

SAID ALAM KHAN PESHAWAR - A 25-member Afghanistan-A cricket team contingent will arrive on a 10-day tour from December 19 to play one-day matches at different venues in Pakistan. President District Peshawar Cricket Association Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah said this while speaking at a news conference on Wednesday. The planned tour, he said, aimed at making a way for the international cricket teams to visit to Pakistan, as after attack on Sri Lankan cricket players in Lahore, no cricket team is willing to visit Pakistan. Flanked by Haji Ahmad Shah, Chief Selector Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFC) and other office-bearers of the association, Mr. Shah said that all was sent to welcome Afghanistan-A cricket team in Peshawar. In the near past, a cricket team of Afghanistan Under-19 had also come to Peshawar and Abbottabad and had played two matches. The due 25-member Afghanistan cricket team on December 19, he informed, would divided in two teams one would play matches in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the other would contest matches in Sindh under the supervision of Regional Cricket Association, Hyderababad. Giving the details of the matches, he said that PDCA would bear all the tour expenses of the team which would play matches in Mardan (Dec. 19), Peshawar (Dec. 20-21), Abbottabad (Dec. 22), Haripur (Dec. 23), Swabi (Dec.25) while the second team after arriving from Pak-Torkhum border will leave for Hyderabad to play its first match against Shikarpur on Dec. 21, Larkana (Dec. 22), Dadu (Dec 23), Rest Day (Dec. 24), Nawab Shah (Dec. 25) and Hyderabad (Dec. 26). Fayyaz Ali Shah said that they were in contact with the political administration of Khyber Agency for holding a cricket match between Afghan and FATA teams soon. n this occasion, Haji Ahmad Shah, Chief Selector of Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFC) said that objective of the tour is to prepare cricketers for the upcoming world qualifying round to be held in Thailand.